Citibank has a new chairman

Citibank Romania continues to frequently change its chairman, by replacing the Polish Witold Zielinski this month after two years in charge of operations, with the Pakistani Shahmir Kaliq, 36. Zielinski returns to Poland, to Citibank Handlowy, where he had been working prior to coming to Bucharest at the beginning of 2004. He is to take over the position of Chief Operations Officer. The 2002-2004 period was quite difficult at the top of the local branch of the biggest financial group in the world, with no less than three successive chairmen. Citibank relied on Romanian bankers only at the vice-chairman level, with Dan Sandu being a veteran one. Razvan Munteanu (the current vice-chairman of Raiffeisen and Doru Lionachescu (former vice-chairman of Bancpost, now involved in an investment bank project) left the bank in 2003. The new chairman, Shahmir Khaliq, has been working for Citigroup since 1991 and has specialised in Corporate & Investment Banking, which is practically the core of business in Romania. In this context, the fact that Khaliq was chosen as chairman could signal Citibank”s decision to maintain the current line of business for its local operations, which emphasises services for corporate clients. ZF